This is Mohsen Shekari. He was executed, by hanging, in Iran this week. He is the first Mahsa Amini related protester to be executed. Amini died on September 16, after being arrested by the Iranian morality police for improperly wearing her hijab. Shekari was 23 years old and was executed for injuring a member of Iran’s Basij militia and for “waging a war on God”. He went through “a show trial without any due process”. He was found guilty. He appealed the verdict, but the appeal was denied.

This has served to only increase tensions, with protests erupting following the release of the news of Shekari’s execution. This all happened in a week, where there was a three-day shutdown of shops, in sympathy for the protests. There were numerous clashes between shop owners and police who were trying to force the shop owners into opening their shops. Also, this week, there were news reports of Iranian militia being told to shoot women protesters in the breasts or genital areas.

There is no sign of the protests fading away. In fact, the sister of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the crackdown, in a letter, in which she stated,

“I think it is appropriate now to declare that I oppose my brother’s actions and I express my sympathy with all mothers mourning the crimes of the Islamic Republic, from the time of Khomeini to the current era of the despotic caliphate of Ali Khamenei,”

No love lost there. She also added the the Iranian Revolutionary Guards should “lay down their weapons. Closer to home, the Canadian family of Semiramas Babaei, learned that the award winning Iranian playwright was arrested at her home, early this week, and has not been heard from, since. Last week, there were reports that the Iranian regime was going to disband the morality police. However, not surprisingly, nothing, on this front, has happened. Hopefully, there will be better news in the days to follow.